The Summer of Infamy (Comes to a close!)

Well - it's the end of Summer for most of the Infamous here. Though, for those in the Southern Hemisphere, Winter has ended! It's wonderful being a world-wide team.

This morning, I spent time working on the "Big Map" of the game. This comprises all of the backgrounds for the game, arranged on a big old background - it's like we had an office cork-board, and we pinned all the sketches on it, to see what it looked like to move around the game. I have to tell you - it's looking cool. This game is pretty big in size, background wise, and we've already got so many of them done! If you're a backer of the game, in the future, we'll be sharing portions of the map for you to see and peruse. Though we don't want to spoil too much.

I've been working with Jerm on developing the map and the backgrounds, and he's been cranking out designs like crazy. I added six more this morning! He's also been overseeing the amazing art team, who are just cranking out beautiful looking art.

Shawn (Klytos) and I are working on developing the script of the game - the plot points, the puzzles, the characters and the interactions. It's a lot of fun, and nostalgic for us - we were doing this same stuff almost 10 years ago... I remember using AIM to talk in real time then!

James M is back in the composers chair, bringing together lots of scents and subtle sounds to create the soundtrack to Infamy. He's a lot of fun to work with - and we're looking forward to getting together in person later this year, and collaborate on some very special songs for the game. We've got some special surprises cooked up for the soundtrack, so stay tuned for that.

Broomie has continued to be the genius that he is - he's been programming an application for us that will help streamline production, and I'm very proud of his work. You know, Broomie's been with us since the start - and he was a wee teen then. So you know, we're trying to work in a picture of the child Broomie, hidden somewhere in the game.

Chuck has been grinding stats in the engine - and working hard to make sure the framework this crazy game is laid on is stable. I know it will be, because I've never met someone who's as hard on himself as Chuck is. He's his own biggest critic, and is always looking to improve the way he produces things.

Jen recently traveled abroad, and took a bunch of amazing reference photos for our game - you should see these beautiful photographs. We use images like this to inspire the background art of the game. The forests of Lonaria are full of diverse and interesting flora and fauna.

So! Just trying to catch you all up... it's a crazy world out there! Keep it infamous, fans - and we'll make the Quest amazing! As always - visit www.infamous-quests.com to see more stuff, talk with fans, talk with us, and coming soon - the backers forums, full of more sweet, sweet goodies like the ones posted below. We've got blogs and diary entries from the team members, video updates, sketches and production ideas, conversations about the game design - interactive "ask me anything" threads. Also, if you're still interested in getting a big box or maybe something else, you can upgrade your pledge via PayPal. Details and links on the site.

Bt

PS - Attached to this update are a few goodies - I've included the preliminary design map sketch for Quest For Infamy - this is a general map of "The Valley of Krasna" which is where the game takes place. This is but one area of the Kingdom of Lonaria... which we may see more of in later games, if we're lucky! Keep in mind, I say preliminary - this gives you an idea of the game and where things are, but I've left off several legends on the map, and several areas have more surprises that aren't included on there! This is what we've used to generate "The Big Map" as I call it, which is much more detailed. I didn't want to spoil too much for you.

Also included is background sketch of an area of the game - this one was designed and painted by Jason Lamb, one of the members of our new QFI Art Team.

And finally - a sketch by Jeremy Kitchen of an area outside of Volksville. There's more outside Volksville than you saw in the demo - and seeing more of the areas around it is just one of the goodies coming up for the game!

Comments

Joel! Sorry about the delay in answering; I just saw this. Well, I wouldn't say that one of the realms is "set up" like the Byzantine Empire, but I can say that some of its architectural influences can be seen in it

Yeah - that's another thing! Shawn (Klytos)'s brother, David, has been writing tomes upon tomes of books that one will be able to read in the library of Tyr. He's been working with me closely to write books about the history of the Land, and the other 5 great Kingdoms in the world of QFI. It's actually all fun stuff - if you're a pedantic nerd, like I can be, you like to read all this kind of stuff for the immersion factor. It's funny; I have reams and reams (digital) of stuff already. He's like a powerhouse at this kind of stuff.

We'll keep the PayPal open probably until the New Year, so there's plenty of time.

I like S.D.'s idea too. Might be cool to add it in-game as well, at the library or such, as a book you can read yourself on-screen or maybe the main character picks up and randomly reads out an entry from. It'd be a nice addition, supposing it's not too much work.

Any idea how long pledge upgrading via PayPal will be going on for? I'm not in a position to upgrade at this time, but in a month or two...

I love that idea, S.D.! I hate it when I've been pronouncing a name in a book one way throughout the whole book, and then they make a movie and I find out I was completely wrong. (But I hate it even more if the actors/actresses they choose look and sound nothing like I imagined.)

SD - that's a great idea. I'll work up a pronunciation guide for Quest For Infamy. There are a lot of locations and characters that may need that. Cool idea. Like Krasna - Kraz-nuh (short 'a' - like 'has'). Lonaria (I'm sure Udo says this in the demo, though) - Lo-nahr-ee-ah, etc.

Bt, I've got a bit of an odd request. While it may seem a touch "taking oneself too seriously", would you consider writing/publishing/whatever an official pronunciation guide to all the names in the game (people, locations, etc) that are not spoken somewhere by a voice actor? I'm seeing all these new creations of yours, and they sound a certain way in my head, but I'm (personally) a stickler for having such things gel in my head properly. Being as thick-headed as I am, I tend to wish to get it right the first time! :-P

Every time I see another sketch for this game, I love it more. I am really looking forward to the final game. And thanks for the updates on the team members. It makes me feel like I'm in on the whole process. Great update. Thanks, Bt.